- Priyanka Chopra Jonas says she’s being paid the same as her male co-star for the first time in 23 years.
- She said Amazon boss Jennifer Salke approved her application for “Citadel,” in which she co-stars with Richard Madden.
- Chopra Jonas added that she believes the application was approved because her boss was a woman.
Priyanka Chopra Jonas said she was paid the same as her male co-star for the first time in her 23-year acting career. for his latest series, “Citadel.”
In the new Amazon Prime Video series, Chopra Jonas and former “Game of Thrones” actor Richard Madden play spies whose memories are wiped.
During Chopra Jonas’s appearance on “The View” Tuesday to promote the series.The 40-year-old actress said she was surprised her request for equal pay was accepted.
“Thank God. 23 years later,” Chopra Jonas said. “Amazon Prime’s head of film and television is Jennifer Salke, whose idea was ‘Citadel.’ She arrived five years ago and she wanted to build this global universe with original IP. I wonder if the head of the studio was not a woman, would this have been a different conversation? Would it have been a conversation?
Chopra Jonas said her team told Amazon: “‘They’re playing co-stars, they should be paid the same.'”
“She said, ‘Yeah, that’s fair.’ My cynical self was like, ‘No, that’s never going to happen.’ I tell my agents, ‘You can ask for it, but guys, I’ve been doing this for a long time,'” the actor continued.
Chopra Jonas added that after “Citadel”, she began to receive a salary equal to her male lead co-stars in other projects.
“Women have to be in the decision making because it changes other women’s lives. After ‘Citadel,’ every job I’ve done where I co-star, I got parity. So it changed my life.” she said.
In recent years, various actors have opened up about the pay gap between men and women in Hollywood.
In 2019, “Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo said Variety who almost quit the show after learning that co-star Patrick Dempsey was being paid almost double what it was when the show started.
Chopra Jonas herself has also spoken before about her pay gap with her male castmates. While talking about her Bollywood career, Chopra Jonas said bbc 100 women that she was paid 10% of what some of her male co-stars earned.
“I’ve never had pay parity in Bollywood. I’d get paid around 10% of my male co-actor’s salary,” Chopra Jonas said. “We have asked for it, but we don’t have it.”
“Citadel” is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.
